The former Ravensgate Arms in Ramsgate has been transformed after becoming the new venue for bar, restaurant and music business Eats n Beats.
Eats n Beats originally opened in Addington Street in 2019. It is run by music industry veterans Meredith Cork and Keith Wilkinson who created a space for a variety of gigs and interesting menus and built up a loyal following.
The music café shut at that site in March and has now relocated to King Street following the closure of the popular Ravensgate Arms in April.
Meredith, who founded Yellow Brick Music, and former Squeeze band member Keith have put their own stamp on the property, stripping out the dark wood “scrubbing, painting and polishing” and creating a new shelter and seating area in the courtyard.
Meredith said: “We have done so much to it and de-pubbified it. It had very dark furniture and dark walls so we have completely changed it up.
“There are enough pub pubs and the whole ethos of Eats n Beats was to be a place where women feel safe having a drink.
“We are really so happy here, it is such a lovely space and it is bigger with more room to host things.
“We were one of the early independents in Addington Street and we are hoping the same energy will come to King Street and build confidence and businesses.
“We’ve made friends with everyone here and we are looking forward to the Ramsgate Day event so we can do some fun things and get involved.
“We built a downstairs kitchen which we are running service from now and upstairs we have a kitchen that we need to do a bit of work on but hope to have going by the end of November.
“There will be smart dining upstairs and casual dining downstairs, a bar upstairs, live music on both levels. We will still do our poetry nights and there are daytime acting classes upstairs so there is that community vibe for anyone who wants to use that space for free.
“We are also doing an exhibition in collaboration with Hold, Sam Brothers is here playing on Friday (September 22) so there is lots going on.”
Meredith says property owner Graham Lawrence has been “very supportive” and says new business partner and retired builder David Edge is “a saint!”
She added: “The community support we have had has been phenomenal. We raised £5,000 in crowdfunding which has gone into this place in its entirety. We have new signs coming in a couple of weeks, the wifi is now in and our coffee machine from Italy arrives on Friday.
“We are also really looking forward to being able to use the fireplace.”
Eats n Beats had a soft opening earlier this month and the venue is currently displaying work by isle artist Peter Rackley.
Opening hours are Thursday / Friday 5pm-10pm
Saturday 10:30am-10pm and Sunday 10:30am – 4pm (ish)
Find Eats n Beats on facebook here
The former venue in Addington Street is now called Sea Bird and run by Ramsgate resident Damian Williams.
Dirtee Feast, which traded from the Ravensgate, has relocated to Churchill’s Tavern at The Paragon.
